Thomas Penrose
Rev. Thomas Penrose (baptized 9 September 1742 - 20 April 1779) was an English poet and cleric. Life Baptised at Newbury, Berkshire, Penrose was the eldest son of Thomas Penrose, rector of Newbury parish, (died 20 April 1769). He entered Wadham College, Oxford, on 30 May 1759, but, according to his brother-in-law James Pettit Andrews, was also at Christ Church.Courtney, 344. Penrose is described as possessing learning, eloquence, and good social qualities, and as being ready with pencil and pen.Courtney, 345. After 1762 Penrose left the university and joined a private Anglo-Portuguese expedition to attack Buenos Aires, under the command of an adventurer named Captain Macnamara. The party left the River Tagus on 30 August 1762, and on its way attacked the settlement of Nova Colonia de Sacramento in the Río de la Plata, which had been seized by the Spanish. The operation was at first successful; but the flagship, the Lord Clive, caught fire, and Macnamara was drowned, with most of the crew. The second vessel, the Ambuscade, of 40 guns, in which Penrose served as a lieutenant of marines, escaped, and ultimately arrived at the Portuguese settlement of Rio de Janeiro. Penrose had been wounded in the fighting and his health was affected, Returning to England, he enrolled at Hertford College, Oxford, earning a B.A. on 8 February 1766. Penrose took holy orders, and became curate to his father at Newbury. In 1768 he married Mary, eldest daughter of Samuel Slocock of Newbury.About 1777 he was appointed by a friend to the rectory of Beckington-cum-Standerwick, near Frome in Somerset; but his health failed. He died at Bristol on 20 April 1779, and was buried at Clifton. Writing Penrose's productions are mainly imitation of William Collins and Thomas Gray; several of his poems are on the theme of his disappointments in life. A poetical essay, On the Contrarieties of Public Virtue, combined irony and satire. His major works were: * Flights of Fancy, 1775. * Address to the Genius of Britain, 1775, a poem in blank verse, proposing a limit to our "civil dissensions". * A posthumous volume of poems, 1781, edited and with a biographical introduction by James Pettit Andrews, who had married Penrose's sister Anne. Penrose's verses were included in numerous contemporary anthologies.Robert Anderson's Collection of the Poets, vol. xi.; Thomas Park's British Poets, vol. xxxiii.; Samuel Pratt's Cabinet of Poetry, vol. v.; in the Chiswick Press edition of the British Poets, vol. lxiii.; and several of his poems are in John Bell's Fugitive Poetry, vols. xii. and xiii. Thomas Campbell included two of Penrose's pieces in his Specimens of the British Poets and Peter Cunningham, in his edition of the work, traced Penrose's influence on Campbell. Thomas James Mathias, in the first dialogue of The Pursuits of Literature (1798), wrote of "neglected Penrose". Recognition A monument was erected at Clifton in his memory. Penrose's portrait was engraved by William Bromley. Publications Poetry *''Flights of Fancy. London: J. Walter / J. Willis, 1775. *''Address to the Genius of Great Britain. London: S. Crowder / J. Willis, 1775? *''Poems by the Rev. Thomas Penrose'' (edited by James Pettit Andrews). London: J. Walter, 1781; Dublin: W. & H. Whitestone et al, 1782. *''The Poetical Works'' (edited by Thomas Park). London: J. Sharpe, 1807. Non-fiction *''The Righteous Blessed in Death: A sermon''. London: J. Willis / J. Walter, 1774. *''A Sketch of the Lives and Writings of Dante and Petrarch: With some account of Italian and Latin literature in the fourteenth century. London: J. Stockdale, 1790. ''Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Thomas Penrose, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Apr. 19, 2016. See also *List of British poets References * . Wikisource, Web, Sep. 3, 2016. Notes External links ;Poems *Rev. Thomas Penrose (1742-1779) info & 8 poems at English Poetry, 1579-1830 *Thomas Penrose at Poetry Nook (25 poems) ;About * Penrose, Thomas (1742-1779) Category:1742 births Category:1779 deaths Category:18th-century English Anglican priests Category:English poets Category:People from Newbury, Berkshire Category:English male poets